THE NATURE OF

APPROACHES
AND METHODS IN
LANGUAGE
TEACHING

Approaches, Methods, Techniques

In ELT
THREE LEVEL OF CONCEPTUALIZATION AND
ORGANIZATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
(ANTHONY: 1963)

Approach Method Technique

The hierarchical arrangement:

“Techniques carry out a method which is consistent

with an approach”
APPROACH
Theories about the nature of
language and language
learning that serve as the
source of practices and
principles of language
teaching.
ACCORDING TO EDWARD ANTHONY:
 An approach: a set of correlative
assumptions dealing with the nature of
language teaching and learning
(axiomatic).
 A method: an overall plan for the orderly
presentation based on an approach. It is
procedural (theory put into practice).
 A technique: implementational.
Techniques carry out a method which is
consistent with an approach (trick,
stratagem).
A. THEORY OF LANGUAGE:

Theories of the nature of language

and the nature of language
proficiency/competence
1. COGNITIVE MODEL/"COGNITIVISM"
Core features and assumptions (Atkinson, 2011:4-
5):
a. Mind as a computer: input, process it, and
produce output, as with a computer
b. Representationalism: mind engages into store
internal representations of external events
c. Learning: abstract knowledge acquisition - i.e.
abstracting the rules of the competence that
underlies linguistic performance, as Noam
Chomsky put it.
Example: The Grammar-Translation Method
2. THE STRUCTURAL MODEL
 Language: a system of structurally, related
elements for the coding of meaning.
 Language proficiency: the mastery of,
language elements (phonological units,
grammatical units grammatical operations
and lexical items).
 Example: the Audiolingual Method,
Situational Language Teaching, and Total
Physical Response
3. THE FUNCTIONAL MODEL :

 Language: a vehicle for the expression of

functional meaning (e.g., Communicative
Approach).
 Emphases: semantic and communicative
dimension, rather than grammar. Meaning
and functions are important. E.g. ESP,
National Syllabus ( topics, functions,
notions)
BROWN (1994: 227) DEFINES THAT
COMMUNICATIVE PURPOSES ARE:

“aspect(s) of our competence which enables us to

convey and interpret messages and to negotiate
meanings interpersonally within specific contexts
... [The] knowledge that enables a person to
communicate functionally and interactionally”

Examples: CA, Competency-Based LT, Threshold

Level syllabus (e.g., Common European
Framework of Reference/CEFR)
4. THE INTERACTIONAL MODEL

 Language: vehicle for the realization of

interpersonal relations and for the
performance of social transactions
between individuals a tool for creation
and maintenance of social relations.
 Focus on patterns of moves, acts,
negotiation, interaction in conversational
exchanges.
RIVERS (1987: 4) DEFINED THE INTERACTIVE
PERSPECTIVE IN LANGUAGE EDUCATION:

"Students achieve facility in using a language when

their attention is focused on conveying and
receiving authentic messages (that is, messages
that contain information of interest to both speaker
and listener in a situation of importance to both).“

Thus, negotiation of meaning is believed to play a

central role in interactive views of language
5. SOCIOCULTURAL MODEL

 Knowledge is constructed through social

interaction with others and reflects the
learner's culture, customs, and beliefs as well
as the collaborative activities people are
engaged in.
 Example: Task-Based, Language Teaching,
Content-Based Instruction, and Cooperative
Language Learning.
6. GENRE MODEL

 Genre refers to an area of human activity: norms

of language usage, such as in science, business,
medicine, literature.

The main concepts can be summarized as follows

(Feet,1998: 5):
 Language is a resource for making meaning.

 The resource of language consists of a set of

interrelated systems.
CONTINUED:

 Language users draw on this resource each

time they use language.
 Language users create texts to create
meaning.
 Texts are shaped by the social context in
which they are used.
 The social context is shaped by the people
using language.
EXAMPLES:

 Text-Based Instruction
 Content-Based Instruction

 English for Specific Purposes and

 English for Academic Purposes

7. LEXICAL MODEL

 The role and the interrelatedness of lexis and

lexical chunks or phrases in language.
 Grammatical competence arises out of
phrase- and lexically-based learning
 A greater role for vocabulary as well as
lexical phrases and chunks in language
teaching.
B. TYPES OF LEARNING THEORIES

1. Behaviorism
2. Cognitive-code learning
3. Creative-construction hypothesis
4. Skill learning
5. Interactional theory
6. Constructivism
7. Sociocultural learning theory (also known as
social constructivism)
8. Individual factors
RELATION BETWEEN THEORY OF LANGUAGE
AND LEARNING

Two basic, questions (one or both):

1. Process-oriented
 What are the psycholinguistic and cognitive
(central) processes involved in language
learning?
 e.g.' habit formation, induction, inferencing,
hypothesis testing, generalization, etc.
2. Condition-oriented
 What? Human or physical context in which
language learning takes place, What are
the condition that need to be met for
learning processes to occur?
II. DESIGN
 The level of method analysis where objectives,
syllabi, types of learning-teaching activities, roles of
teachers, learners and instructional materials are
considered.

A. Objectives
 Objectives of methods vary: oral skills, general
communication skills, accurate grammar and
pronunciation, basic grammar and vocabulary of a
language.
 Process oriented?
 Measuring stick: degree of emphases on vocab
acquisition and how grammatical and pronunciation
errors treated.
B. SYLLABUS

 Subject matter (what to talk about) and

linguistic matter (how to talk about).
 Appriori syllabuses in so many methods and a
posteriori approach to syllabus specification
in Counseling-learning.
 E.g.: SW and TPR, traditional
lexicogrammatical syllabus.
C. TYPES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
ACTIVITIES
 Instructional process: organized and directed
interaction of teachers, learners, and
materials in the classroom.
 Often serve to distinguish methods:
differences among methods at the level of
approach manifest themselves in the choice of
different kinds of learning and teaching
activities and interaction patterns: use of
games, arrangement, and grouping of
learners.
D. LEARNER ROLES
1. Types of learning tasks set for learners
2. Degree of control learners have over content
of learning
3. Patterns of learner groupings
4. Degree to which !earners influence the
learning of others
5. The view of learner as a processor, performer,
initiator, problem solver
E. TEACHER ROLES
1. Types of functions teachers fulfill;
2. Teacher influence over learning;
3. Degree to which teacher determines the
content for learning;
4. Types of interaction between teacher and
learners
F. THE ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL
MATERIALS

1. Primary functions of materials

2. The form materials take. (textbook,
audiovisual)
3. Relation of materials to other input
4. Assumptions made about teachers and
students/learners.
III. PROCEDURES

1. Classroom. techniques, practice, and

behaviors observed when the method is used.
2. Resources in terms of time, space, and
equipment used by teachers.
3. Instructional pattern observed in lesson
4. Tactics and strategies used by teachers and
learners when method is being used.
Thank you . . .